Josh Paul, a State Department official responsible for transferring arms to key American allies, has resigned from his position citing his disagreement with President Biden’s announcement of material support for Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist group.
In his resignation letter, Paul condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel but said Israel’s response in seeking to eliminate Hamas was too far and that continued lethal assistance to Israel was shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to American values.
He suggested that Israel had committed gross violations of human rights and that the US, as a third party, should not take a side in the conflict. (Poll: Did Joe Biden’s Failures Lead to Hamas Attack? VOTE)
“Today I informed my colleagues that I have resigned from the State Department, due to a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel,” Paul wrote on LinkedIn.
He added: “I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse.”
“Let me be clear: Hamas’ attack on Israel was not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities,” he wrote.
“I also believe that potential escalations by Iran-linked groups such as Hezbollah, or by Iran itself, would be a further cynical exploitation of the existing tragedy. But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people — and is not in the long term American interest.”
“When I came to the Bureau, the U.S. Government entity most responsible for the transfer and provision of arms to partners and allies, I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt the harm I might do would be outweighed by the good I could do,” Paul wrote.
“In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact. I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain.”
“We cannot be both against occupation and for it. We cannot be both for freedom and against it. And we cannot be for a better world while contributing to one that is materially worse.”
“This Administration’s response — and much of Congress’ as well — is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia,” Paul continued in the statement. “That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security nor peace.”
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